ASCIT sick children: Again at my School by fostering Communication through Interactive Technologies for long term sick children

Abstract

In this paper, we present the design, development, implementation and evaluation of a virtual learning environment that supports the learning process of long term sick children. We envision a solution that helps to establish high quality involvement of these children in a communication based scenario between the place where the child stays/has been moved and the original classroom/school setting. The system that we developed is based on concrete user needs, and is therefore assumed to be educationally sound and relevant. Furthermore, the solution is scalable and affordable as compared to previous ICT-based tools for this user group. To this end we incorporate innovative hardware, software and connectivity features, set in a user friendly user interface based on 3D technologies. The evaluation of the prototype reveals that our system increases social contacts, the amount of curriculum subjects participated in, and the variety in didactical strategies used.